Saturday’s five-star competition was held in a winning round format with the top 10 riders in the standings following the opening round, regardless of faults, returning for an all-deciding second round.  Starting from a clean slate, Walker and Darragh Kenny of Ireland were the only two riders to jump clear in the second round and both incurred time faults for exceeding the time allowed of 45 seconds set by Brazilian course designer Marina Azevedo.  Walker proved to be the fastest, stopping the timers in 45.48 seconds compared to Kenny’s time of 47.57 to take the win.

Kenny settled for second with Diaroubet, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Diarado x Baloubet du Rouet) that he has been paired with since May.  Alessandra Volpi of the United States had the fastest time by a large margin, 41.53 seconds, but a rail down with Glamour, her 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare (Numero Uno x Iroko), placed her third in the final standings.

“He’s pretty careful and always very quick, so I try not to interfere with him and keep it as smooth as possible and he covers the ground nicely,” said Walker of her winning mount, Atout des Trambles, a 15-year-old Selle Francais gelding (Nectar des Forets x Apache d’Adriers).  “I didn’t think that I would have a time fault, so I thought I was out of the contention after that, but the winning round format worked in my favour today.  My horse jumped amazing.  He always gives it his all when he’s in the ring.  I’m so proud of him.”

Better known as “Tito” around the barn, Atout des Trambles came as part of a package deal when Walker purchased him.  His therapy companion, Mimosa, is a miniature pony who is always at his side except when he is being ridden.

“‘Tito’ has been my partner of five years now and he is a 1.50m specialist,” continued Walker, who came to Ottawa directly from competing at CSIO5* Dublin as a member of the Canadian Show Jumping Team with two other horses.  “He’s naturally so quick and he’s always been very good on the grass.  We’ve always had great luck at Ottawa with him so I wanted to leave him nice and fresh for this event.  It was just so much fun out there and he always jumps very well on this field.”

Canadian victories proved to be the theme of the day with the US $6,800 1.45m Speed CSI2*, presented by CIBC Wood Gundy.  While he didn’t have the fastest round of the day, Sean Jobin of Canada was the only athlete to leave all the rails in place to take the win riding Engaye d’Amaury.  After purchasing the horse as a seven-year-old in France, it underwent colic surgery and took several years to return to the top level.  The win at Wesley Clover Parks was especially meaningful as it marked the first two-star victory for the horse owned by Antrim Equestrian.  Another Canadian competitor, Wesley Newlands of Toronto, ON, had the fastest four-fault round to place second with Django du Lys, owned by Weslands Farm.  Laurel Walker of the United States rounded out the top three with HTS Kobra Kan, owned by Oakland Training and Sales.